american companies do what i say every time, and that is build it here and sell it everywhere. the national export initiative -- and i think most of you know this -- the president launched two years ago. at that time it was an extraordinarily bold act to do that. the focus was double, doubling within five years u.s. exports. we're well on track down the road two years into that. plenty of challenges ahead. we have to intensify more of what we're doing. we have to make xm bank possible. i mean, if we can't have xm bank to go where we need to go, this will be in the direction of impossible. let me just touch on a few things. fred gave you a few statistics. i'm going to give just a few more. u.s. exports of goods and services -- and i think this is a striking number -- last year,

2011, hit an all-time record of $2.1 trillion. and just yesterday we announced the year to date exports for january and february are up 8.5% over that 2001 to 2011 level. so, stunning. and then one other key point. from 2009 to 2011, the number of export-supported jobs increased by 1.2 million. really important number in this economy. and we know that those export-related jobs pay higher than the average. so xm itself had a record year. they provided financing that led to about $41 billion in u.s.

exports. and as i think everyone here knows xm does this at no cost to taxpayers. in fact, xm has actually generated revenues for the u.s. treasury since the 1990s. and that's what you call smart government. reauthorizing the exporting bank should be straightforward, sound, and a truly simple decision for the congress. or -- and i think it's important to put hit the way -- losing xm at a time when america's businesses and workers are just getting back on their feet would be deeply unacceptable. so, as fred said, the congress department and xm are close partners. i want to give one example of how we're working together. india's economy has grown at an annual rate of about 8% in recent years. their cities and populations are growing at a rate unparalleled

now among the largest countries. so india has an ambitious plan to invest $1 trillion in infrastructure over the next five years. two weeks ago, as fred suggested, i led a group of businesses to india on my first trade mission as commerce secretary. my message was simple there -- american companies have deep experience in building our own complex infrastructure here in the u.s. we can find mutually beneficial -- and this is key -- mutually beneficial ways to help our indian partners do the same, creating more prosperity and jobs in both countries. and here's an important fact with respect to that. the export/import bank supported

about $3.6 billion of imports to india just last year. as an example, two of the companies on trade mission with us were ge and black and beach. last year, ge energy signed a $750 million contract for a 2.4 gig watt project. critically needed in india, very large scale. black and beach was contracted to design the plant. xm financed that significant and incredibly important project. looking forward, the congress department and eximwill work closely with businesses like yours to build stronger bridges around the world. and this is truly a team effort. leaders throughout the country are playing key roles. in particular, america's great cities are crucial to driving export.

i'm now very please ld to introduce the extraordinary mayor of one of them, a man who really needs no introduction. rahm emanuel is remarkably talented, colorful, and in the words of "new york times" columnist david brooks, in a column that he termed "an appreciation of wrong," "he is always passionately promoting some policy idea, something he cares deeply about and deeply believes in." rahm was born and raised in chicago. he became active in local and state politics, came to washington as the senior adviser in the clinton white house. after a stint in the private sector, he served three terms in the congress, and as all of you know, he went on to become the white house chief of staff for our president, president obama, where he did truly remarkable things.

during his tenure, he helped orchestrate the passage of key milestones such as the economic recovery act, wall street reform, health care reform, increasing access and decreasing costs for millions of americans. he played a crucial role in securing a bipartisan compromise that saved 140,000 teachers' jobs. then, as we all know, in 2011, he was elected to come home, elected the 55th mayor of chicago. if you've read about him over the past year, you know that he hit the ground running, bringing quick action and bold ideas to the city. in fact, since rahm became mayor, more than 25 companies have announced that they'll be creating jobs in chicago. and nearly 15,000 jobs have been created through initiatives he

has championed. he has made tough choices to help restore the city's economic health. he's worked to increase transparency and communication with the people of chicago. and he is helping chicago's businesses, including its exporters, do what they do best, which is grow and create jobs. please help me welcome to the podium chicago mayor rahm emanuel. ex. >> thank you, mr. secretary. i want to thank you for those kind words. it's moments like that you wish your parents were here because you know your mother would be proud and your father would be amazed. i also want to say to fred -- or i'll just stay with fred and rahm.

we'll go there, since we've known each other for 20 years. i think right now there are rabbis across america gulping. they're seeing if they can raise the standard of entry to become part of the rabbinical faith, let alone the teachings. and i'm sure they would think since rabbis do teaching, i'm sure they'll be shocked at what i'm teaching. so thank you, both of you, for those kind words and for the opportunity to speak and address i think a very, very important topic. let me say up front one thing now that i'm no longer part of washington back home in chicago. and that is also a person who for two presidents helped on major trade pacts. one of my stints when i worked for president clinton was helping with bill dailey see nafta through completion. also -- and i ran for congress saying i was for free-trade agreements. and then when i worked for

president obama, helping in the early stages finalize pieces as it related to south korea. at that time, getting that agreement back on track from a negotiating standpoint and working with others in the administration on that effort. and a believer in opening markets, as the secretary said, to goods made here in america. now, the secretary has his way of sayi ining it would be unacceptable to not reauthorize the ex-im bank. i think it would be foolish not to reauthorize the ex-im bank. you don't open up markets around the world and then not finance the opportunity to seize market share. the two go hand in hand. and for all those who said let's get these trade agreements done, it would be absolutely counter to any business plan to then not have the financing in place to then seize market share.

just take south korea as one example. in a time in which america had not had that agreement agreed to, eu and others came in and reached an agreement and south korea became the tenth largest market and economy in the world. we're coming in late. we have better product, made better, but to get the market share we lost in those five years you need the financing arm, so our companies are not at a disadvantage. and i would hope congress would come to an agreement to make sure that we have the financing so we don't fumble the ball on the 50 yard line. that makes no sense. and as a super power, you can't operate this way to open up markets in colombia, in panama, in south korea, to a host of markets and countries. each of ose markets, each of those countries will have different parts of american products come there. but the financing is essential, and it's one of the things i

want to talk about because we're in the city of chicago about to launch an initiative as it relates to exports, setting a goal over the next five years to double our exports around the world, which will create back in the chicago area 100,000 jobs. and to do that without ex-im will not be possible. we're the third largest city in america, yet we're ranked tenth in exports. that means, one, we have a low base, we can improve. but we're going to do it, and i'm going to lay out some of the ideas we're going to do to achieve that goal, with, though, ex-im as a strategic partner. as fred mentioned, they have an office in chicago. i want to accentuate it. i want to use it to its full ability. and the reason is chicago has benefited -- a series of companies in the chicago and illinois area have benefited from ex-im, which is boeing,

caterpillar, john deere, and that's a good thing. and there are other companies in the chicago area without their headquarters there that have benefited. but to achieve the goal we've set as a city, over the next five years, doubling our exports, which will help us create 100,000 jobs, i need to take advantage of two other key strategic or three other key strategic advantages of the city of chicago. we are also the center of the flat-roof manufacturing companies. the midwest is, chicago, and the chicago area is. fred has put a focus on those businesses opening up to other markets around the world. basically we have about 100,000 companies with 500 or less employees. we are the center for the country for, as i said, the flat-roof manufacturers. for them to get to gain market share, to open up into other

countries where they don't have access today, they need the resources that come with ex-im. they need the capacity of financing and all the marketing and financing that comes with an ex-im. they can't get there because they don't have the infrastructure to do it otherwise in house. so that's going to be an essential part of our strategy. and let me roll back a little, take one step back. about seven months ago, i said, what is our plan for the city of chicago over the next ten years? because in my own view, while chicago has huge strategic advantages, i'll give you one example, the average four-year college population in a city is 28%. in chicago, it's 34%. so we have a skilled workforce with a midwest work ethic. we have other huge advantages. but we are losing those

advantages. our productivity, our educational advantage. so what is our business plan? because i don't want to experience, which is what i believe for the country happened as well as for the city, another lost decade. we can't afford it. so i pulled together chicago, world business chicago, our nonprofits, our academic institutions, partnered with the brookings institute, and mckinsey, and i said i want a business plan that says over the next ten years what are our main goals and how do i make sure that as we're making decisions we're marching towards achieving those goals? there was a number of them laid out. we laid a plan out with ten specific goals to go for, of which exports were seen as, to be honest, one of the low-lying fruit that we could get and see immediate job growth and take advantage of certain things that exist today in the city of chicago that are not being in my view fully materialized and realized for job growth and economic activity.

first, chicago is the inland hub of america. as was noted earlier, if you're in seattle, it makes sense why you look to the pacific. if you're in miami, it makes sense why you look to latin america. if you're in new york, it makes sense why you look to europe. but chicago is the inland hub of america. it is a transportation, distribution, and logistic juggernaut in america. if it runs on rail, roads, or runways, chicago has a role to play in it. 25% of all cargo on rail comes through chicago. where they have an airport, second busiest in america, but the only airport in all of north america with both major carriers operating out of. there are 220 daily flights around the world out of chicago. you can get anywhere in the world or anywhere in the country

directly. we are also the center where broadband runs through america, its broadband backbone. so on a host of levels, we are a transportation, distribution juggernaut, but that's never been accentuated for an export strategy, gaining more market share. second, i already told you about our workforce. that is, its education levels that are essential. but one of the great pieces -- we have great four-year institutions, great higher-ed institutions. we have 127,000 people go to our community colleges. so we realize toll bring companies that would be growth industries are essential to the city of chicago. so one of the things we've done is changing our community colleges, picking six growth fields. one in health care, so malcolm x college will only do health care from now on. and all the private companies,

rush presbyterian hospital, northwestern hospital, avid, baxter, wallgreens, they'll develop the curriculum, train the professors, who will train the students so they will be experts to be in the 85,000 jobs over the next decade that will come on health care. we're also one of the centers in the country for health care i.t. l one is helping train workers for the area of health care. we're doing that in transportation, distribution, logistics at olive harvey. the other fields will be professional services, culinary and hospitality, i.t., and then also in the advanced manufacturing, because right now in chicago we have about a thousand jobs in the chicago area that are open in the industrial maintenance area. and we don't have the skilled workforce to fill them. those are people that fix the computers and make the advance producted that secretary and fred talked about that get exported around the world.

and one of the brookings and mckinsey reports showed while chicago lost manufacturing jobs it held its own in advanced manufacturing area. if it held its own, how do i accentuate that? our community college system is going to start training the workers to do the industrial maintenance and have the skill baze baisz in that area. and one school will be only dedicated towards that. and the navistars, the fords, and the industrial manufacturers will develop the curriculum, do the training so when a worker comes out of one of our community colleges, only one school, they'll know that the curriculum and the training they did. in the same way, and i will say it's no different in my view because it's community colleges, false choice we have to think only four-year institutions or the booth school for business or the kellogg school of business for lawyers, you need all skills so companies know they have the full menu of skills there.

andrew works with kellogg in developing kellogg business school at northwestern, developing the curriculum there so the graduates there are people that can come work there. that should not be any different for a person coming out of malcolm x in health care or out of olive harvey in transportation, distribution, and logistics. giving those kids, those adults who return to school the same skill base that a gentleman or lady coming out of kellogg business school has with an opportunity at dow chemical. third, and essential to this in the infrastructure space, as i talked about, we're launching in the next week -- we're ready to launch about $7.3 billion of infrastructure spending in the city of chicago over the next three years to create -- that will create 30,000 jobs. we are replacing 1,000 miles of water pipe. everything that's 100 years or older will be replaced. 750 miles of sewer will be either replaced or relined.

160,000 catch basins will be totally replaced and rebuilt. we have the two largest water filtration systems. those will be rebuilt. and the reason also is not only for our water. it's basically all that saving two years worth of watt they're we lose to leaky and old pipes will actually be -- two years' worth for households will actually be conserved. our savings from water, sewer, the catch basins will all be redone. 18,000 jobs just for water alone. over the next decade, 2,000 of our 4,000 miles of road will be repaved. not only are we rebuilding a new chicago, but that skill base, while other countries around the world are now going on an infrastructure build, we're going to gather that skill base in our companies in the city of chicago will have that skill base that then can go compete for what goes on in india, what

goes on in colombia, what goes on in nigeria, what goes on in vietnam, because as we're rebuilding here in america, we're getting a skill. not only are we rebuilding america, but we are getting a skill set that then we can competing for those infrastructure projects in markets around the world. the architectural, the engine engineering expertise for water. i believe water is going to be as important in the next 30 years as energy has for the last 30 years. we sit on the great lakes. i want that expertise in chicago. in addition to the setting the goal and partnering with ex-im to use their office focused on the small manufacturing companies in the city of chicago. to begin to market and develop tho-in those markets around the world and the financing. we'll be doing a conference with ex-im to begin to set out goals and market share, because a lot of these companies who do export, they usually export to

only one country, and the reason they came across this was by coincidence. when it comes to exporting, it shouldn't be coincidence. it should be a business plan. and the only reason some companies have any exports is is because some family member knew someone or happened to be traveling there and it was by coincidence. to win in the 21st century, it cannot be an accident or a coincidence. it has to be a business strategy. and ex-im will use chicago as its test market to develop the small companies what the caterpillars, the boeings, and the john deeres and the microsofts know about ex-im. to win market share, you need ex-im as a partner. they're going to be the partner for the small manufacturers of chicago win market share in the countries around the world that are looking for american-made products. we'll do the conference, the partnership, the financing focused on those midlevel companies. in addition, i'm converting our

entire sister city program and asking each one of our sister cities and our initiatives to come back with a business plan of how to expand market and business opportunities in those sister cities. you don't understand this, but as mayors we have sister city programs around the world. and usually the mayors of the other cities come in, we exchange gifts, we talk, we take a picture, and that's it. now, as i think you can gather from my speech so far, i'm not really big into that. i don't really find that very exciting. okay? so we're going to turn the entire sister city program and give you an example. we have sister city programs with shanghai, to delhi, moscow, toronto, germany's biggest port city. we have 28 sister cities on five continents, in the five biggest economies in the world outside of the united states. but they've never been organized with a clear business strategy for the city's economy and the

businesses in the city how to accentuate and gain market share. each of them will report back in the next three months with a business plan specific toll the sister city chicago has with osaka. what do we do to maximize our opportunities there? not just more flights, not just another photo. and they're great. i love taking photos. but if i want to do that, i go to a wedding. we've never used our relationships to maximize as a city our business opportunities around. and the city/state partnership with ex-im will be a key piece of that. lastly, let me say this. as we're modernizing our infrastructure and we're also turning and using ex-im as a partner in achieving our goals and educating our workforce. each of these are part of a strategy that are complementary. using chicago's strength with its workforce, chicago's

strength as the -- what i would call the inland port, we're the only inland city in america with an international economic footprint. what miami does, seattle does, san diego does, l.a. does, boston, houston, because they live on the coastal part of america and look out. chicago is the only inland city that looks out. it has the only transportation system and distribution system that allows it not only to look out but to look into america. its workforce is highly skilled, highly motivated. it still has the sector of as i said the flat-roof manufacturing. it did not lose in the advance manufacturing jobs at the pace the rest of the manufacturing sector lost. how to organize each of those aspects to then expand our market share to achieve what i think is an achievable goal, one that president obama has set for the country -- and there were a lot of skeptics when he did this three years ago. said there was no way america

could export itself to growth. use that same objective, that same metric. five years, double, 100,000 jobs will come to the city of chicago. in each part of the brookings, mckinsey, world business chicago plan, we are marching along making sure from infrastructure to job training to skill base development to export growth. and it's not like we're going to have our own export policy. but chicago is going to have its own export strategy. and ex-im is going to be a key partner in helping us achieve that. as i said, we are tenth as it relates to cities that export, and yet we're the third largest city in america. we have huge potential because our base is low but our skills are great and our capacity are great because we have all the pieces. they've never been assembled under a single strategy. so i'm honored, and it's not

usual that you would have a mayor come here. may say something about my life. i checked into my hotel last night, i turned on the tv, and i got caught watching president clinton on c-span. that may tell you something that goes on in a mayor's life, watching your former boss on c-span, taped. but that said, he laid out what he thinks is a vision for the country. today there are about 50 cities in the world that are the main competitor and economic drivers. chicago is one of them. to seize the next decade for the people of the city of chicago for greater job growth and economic opportunity, we, too, have to have a business strategy. and growing our export part of our economy is essential. and making sure that the manufacturers that are in chicago can stay there and grow there means i got to give them better infrastructure, i got to give them better skilled workers to pull, from and i've got to give them greater markets to go

seize. we are now putting in place the strategy to move up from tenth to where we belong on that list of american cities with an export-driven economy. it has worked for boeing. and i'm happy because boeing is based in chicago. it has worked for caterpillar, an illinois-based company. it has worked for john deere, another illinois-based company. lit now be our strategy to make it work for all the manufacturers, the 100,000 that have 500 or less employees in the chicago area and now have an export strategy that's beyond either zero or 100. and to see -- take the capabilities of ex-im, the marketing strategy and have this city/state function with ex-im so chicago can move up to the proper ranks of having an export-based economy using all its natural assets of people, skills, and technology to gain greater market share.

thank you very much. here's a look at the c-span networks today. on c-span live at 12:00 p.m. eastern, the brady center holds a news conference on how to prevent gun violence. victims of gun violence from across the u.s. are expected to speak. coming up on c-span2 live at 1:00 p.m., a look at america's tax policy, an event hosted by americans for tax reform. grover norquist is one toffee chured speakers. and then on c-span 3, a house oversight hearing examining the spending report related to a 2010 las vegas convention costing over $800,000. the event's live at 1:30 p.m. eastern. frankly, we owe it to our first responders to give them a modern communications network, and that's e